Category: Interviews

Posted on

How to Prepare for Your First Job Interview

Many graduates every year make a beeline for the campus placements.

While not all of them end up getting a job, most lose out during the selection process. One of the common causes are lack of preparation for the job interviews. Fresh graduates are not aware of what goes into a successful job interview preparation process and end up either relying too much on academic credentials or their raw intellect.

Let’s break down the elements of the interview preparation step by step.

Learn about the company:

Before anything else you should try to know more about the company you are applying to. Knowing organizational philosophies, details of the work culture and other contributions to the society helps a lot in interviews. It’s likely you will be asked questions like ‘Why should we hire you?’ or ‘Why do you want to work with us?’ You should also understand what company is looking for and what skills and personality you have. If you are those who do not get so well with others but you have strong technical skills and have a strong academic profiles, a software engineering job might be a good fit. Also a product job is better suited for such a profile than IT services job.

Find a practice partner:

Interviews need to be practiced thoroughly and you need to be able to get comfortable with the interview setting. Find someone who is willing to help you and practice with him – be it a friend, teacher or your parents.

The best partners are your friends from your college or university who studies the same course. There are plenty of resources that can point you to questions that are likely to be asked and you should develop answers for them and let your practice partner evaluate your performance.

You should try to improve your answers and iron out the kinks every subsequent practice session. If possible you should record these mock interview sessions and evaluate your own performance yourself as well. If you are not able to find a partner despite your best efforts, practice your answers in front of the mirror. That way you can observe your body language and get comfortable with yourself.

Get appropriate attire:

While we all know we should not judge books by their cover, looks matter nonetheless in interviews. Choosing the right dress for the interview requires you to know about the organization. If the environment of the organization is casual then you can be a bit more casual but if there are strict dress codes in the workplace then you need to dress in formals. Many traditional organizations have color codes as well and you should try to fit in with the dress code as much as possible. Talking to current employees is best way to know about the culture of the company.

Creating the right impression:

You need to be prepared for not only the questions that are likely to be asked at the interview but also the right approach. Get your soft skills polished and speak confidently and clearly. Do remember to greet the interviewer and always maintain eye contact. You should practice these little things in your mock interviews as well.

Other than these courtesies you should also know how to present yourself to the interviewer. Self-confidence is the key to cracking any interview and you need to ensure that you present yourself as a skillful individual with the right mindset that matches the wavelength of the organizational policies.

Most importantly, you need to be yourself. Any experienced HR professional will be able to identify if you are giving a false representation of yourself or not. Ensure that you are honest in your approach and you will be able to sail through the interview.

Mention references:

We often think of references as means of getting an unfair advantage over others in an interview but it’s not so. If you know someone who works in the organization you are applying to, do not shy away from taking their names. If you have taken any degree course recently include your professors or teachers from these courses for references.

Those who have taken part-time courses, can include the reference of their batch-mates if they are from same organization. These courses generally attract experienced candidates and you will find many of them have worked in your target jobs before taking up the course. But do not fake it – it’s more than likely that the interviewer will contact your references and ask about your skills and capabilities.

Mind your body language:

Your body language is as important as your knowledge. You should not be too aggressive or too passive when it comes to communicating. You need to have the right balance in your approach. While being too relaxed during the interview and cozying up in the chair might make the interviewer feel you are being too casual in your approach, being too rigid and uptight will make the interviewer feel you are nervous. Your body language should be friendly and it will allow both you and the interviewer be comfortable while conversing.

Arriving for the interview:

Now that you know how to prepare for the interview, it’s time to take care of punctuality. You need to ensure that you arrive at least 15 minutes in advance even if you know the interviewer is someone who tends to be late. You should have sufficient time in hand when leaving your home and on the off chance that you end up getting stuck in major transportation problems you should inform the HR personnel or the organization ahead of the allotted time. If you feel that you will not be able to attend the interview you should let the respective people know and request a reschedule.

Exiting the interview:

Once the interview is complete you should shake hands with the interviewer and also thank everyone who was responsible for conducting the interview. Ideally you want to make a lasting impression without being too aggressive. After you leave the interview you should leave a thank you note via email as well as snail mail. Simply put in a few words of appreciation for the opportunity provided and wait for the interview results!

Author Bio –

Paresh – I have been writing online for last 4 years now and I have written extensively about career options for graduates and experienced professionals. Beyond that I enjoy reading about latest tech advances. I also enjoy building new products using the latest technologies.

Posted on

How would your colleagues describe you? Interview Question

Interviewers, ask this job interview question as they want to uncover your skills and strengths.

Employers will often ask you to name your strengths, but they know that many interviewees will exaggerate this answer, but often when ask to describe how others describe, interviewees can often be honest.

In this article we have broke down what the interviewer is looking for in a perfect job interview answer and to help you create the perfect answer we have recorded an example answer.

Job Interview Question: How would your colleagues describe you?

 

Explanation of the Question:

Interviewers enjoy hearing quotes, have a couple of quotes prepared from people at your previous job “David always said I was….” and use statements like: “In my last job I was always known for…” By giving quotes from a named person can be as effective as giving the interviewer a written reference.

Example Job Interview Answer

“In my last company I was always known as the person who got things done. I remember over hearing my Manger Sharon, saying ‘if you need a job doing quickly and efficiently to get me to do it”

Posted on

Are you applying for any other jobs? Interview Question

To answer the job interview question “are you applying for any other jobs?” you have to first show your skills and talents to make the employer want you and then use scarcity to increase desire.

Job Interview Question: Are you applying for any other jobs?

 

Explanation of the Job Interview Question:

Of course you are, every interviewer knows you are looking for work and it’s highly unlikely that you only have one interview lined up.

Explain why you are looking for other work and follow this up by telling the interviewer how much you want to work for their company. Employers like to offer jobs to people who will accept them and/or not leave after a couple of weeks for a better job offer. Why? Recruitment can cost companies around 33% of their profits!

Example Interview Answer

“Yes, I am looking at other jobs in this industry as I know this is the type of work I will excel in. I have researched your company and feel this is the type of company I would really fit into”

Posted on

6 Questions to Ask the Interviewer in a Job Interview

The average job interview last around 45 minutes, during this period the interviewer will ask you around 10 sector related interview questions to determine if you the applicant have the required skills and experience deemed appropriate for the advertised position.

Most applicants fall into the common trap of simply answering a question before waiting for the next job interview question to be asked. The robotic way of acting in the job interview does you know favours, to influence the job interview you need ask the interviewer questions throughout the job interview

As you answer an interviewers question, finish by asking one of the 6 questions below creating a conversational job interview

Questions should not be randomly asked during the job interview instead wait for the perfect opportunity, asking questions that are relevant to the current topic, as this will create a good relationship between you and the job interviewer.

Questions to ask at the job interview 1. Company Growth

“as a specialist in X sector I was wondering if you have any future plans to develop into other niches?”

Questions to ask at the job interview 2. Check the Company Barriers

“What are the biggest challenges your employees face when working on X?

Questions to ask at the job interview 3. Development Opportunities

“Do you encourage internal promotions and personal development?”

Questions to ask at the job interview 4. Checking Staff Retention

“It is good to hear that as a company you are keen to develop your workforce, does this have a positive effect on staff retention?”

Questions to ask at the job interview 5. Employer Reflection

“If you could go back 12 months what would you do differently?”

Questions to ask at the job interview 6. Employing You

“If you recruited me, how would my skills and experience help you achieve your goals?”

Posted on

3 Interview Concerns Everyone Worries About

For most, a job interview is not a common occurrence. When we step into the unknown our subconscious checks for danger, looks for a frame of reference and then sends emotional signals to our body so we know how to react.

This process is completed within milliseconds.

This is why public speaking and job interviews rank high for worst fears. Your subconscious ask “how should I react” when you receive your interview invitation, to answer the question the brain finds a “frame of reference” this for most people is your most memorable “public speaking” experience – the negative experience in school when you were asked to read in front of the class, after getting the words wrong the whole classed laughed at you and made you feel upset.

The brain replicates these same negative emotions, associating them to the forthcoming job interview – no wonder we feel so nervous when it comes to a job interview. Other worries then build on this fear, creating in some cases phobia of job interviews and public speaking.

Concerns That Double Your Interview Fear – I’m not good enough

People believe they are living a lie.

We often feel we got to the position in our career because of good luck not our own skills or abilities. When applying for a new position in a new company we wrongly believe our lie will be found out.

We simply feel we are not good enough to be offered the new position, so why bother?

This limiting belief will increase your interview anxiety killing any hopes of a job offer. To combat this growing fear, you need to consciously think about your success and career highlights as this will subconsciously challenge your negative interview beliefs;

  • reread positive job evaluations
  • write a list of your career strengths and skills  
  • compare your rise through the career ranks to others who haven’t been as successful
  • reflect on your work ethic and attitude
  • write a list of strengths that your colleagues would say you possessed

Concerns That Double Your Interview Fear – what if I don’t know what to do?

Interview fears

Interviewees, before even being offered the job role will try to second guess the job duties that they will undertake. This seems like a good idea, especially as a task like this can help your predict the job interview questions.

But the anxious interviewee takes this process one step to far and predicts job duties that they cant possible do, even though they haven’t been mentioned on the job specification.

This negative second guessing only increases anxiety. To combat this process think about previous roles where you have undertaken a new role, task and duty and where you have learnt and develop this new skill to become the expert that you are today.

Remember we all grow by learning new skills and we all get bored in a career that offers no variety at all. To learn you have to make mistakes, the trick is to frame each mistake as a learning curve not a negative experience.

Concerns That Double Your Interview Fear – what if they don’t like me

Imposter Syndrome

One of the common worries for interviewees is the thought that the interviewer wont like them.

When we focus on other peoples opinions and second guess their thoughts we only create worry and concern.

You have no way of knowing what the interviewer will think of you, and if your not a good match, you wont work well together, then isn’t it better to learn that in the interview rather then 6 months down the line?

When you focus on other peoples thoughts, you take the focus away from your task in hand – preparing for the job interview. When this thought passes through your head, ask yourself “what 3 things do I need to do to prepare for my interview?”

This question takes the focus consciously back to the job interview preparation

Posted on

4 Insights That Will Give You The Edge At Job Interviews

Out of the whole process of finding a job, which consists of several stages, people generally find interviews to be the most dreadful. However this shouldn’t be the case, with the right mind frame and attitude you will find that there is nothing to fear when it comes to job interviews.

I will be sharing 4 insights that will give you the competitive edge at job interviews.

Handing Curveball Interview Questions

So what are curveball questions? They are the type of questions that you can’t really prepare for.

  • What is your definition of a brand?
  • What has been the low light of your career?
  • What does the word ‘insight’ mean to you?

The main reason they ask you these types of questions is to put you on the spot. In most cases there is no real right or wrong answer. In fact they probably don’t know the answer themselves. They just want to see how you handle the pressure.

Solution

The best way to approach is to simply ‘avoid getting flustered’. Pause and think for a moment about the question, and there is nothing wrong in doing so. Take the question in the spirit that it’s meant to be taken and provide a reasonable answer.

In the worst case scenario where you don’t know the answer is to simply say ‘I don’t really know the answer to that question but I am intrigued to know what it is’.

By doing so you are being honest and transparent. Above all you are showing the attitude of having an interest in learning.

End of the day we are all human beings and no one knows the answer to every question.

Asking Questions

It’s important to bear in mind that interviews are a 50 – 50 situation. The picture is that you are looking for employment and they are looking for an employee.

Just like they ask you questions, you can, should and must ask questions from them too. Note: It’s not to say that you should be asking 50% of the questions!

Here are a Few Guidelines:

  • Ask them questions to get more clarity on the role that you will be doing and how important it is to the organisation
  • Enquire what the company’s values, principles and policies are.
  • Similarly to how they would ask you ‘where do you see yourself in 5 years time’ you may ask them what the organisation’s vision is for the next 5 years.

Another good approach is to find out how the company handled tough times. For instance what challenges they faced during the recession period and how they overcame it.

By asking questions you are portraying confidence and enthusiasm. Plus your awareness of the company only gets better. Furthermore they will be happy to answer your questions since they are proud of their organisation, its vision and how they overcame hardships.

Towards the end of your interview a very good question to ask is “What other concerns or reservations do you have about my ability to carry out this role?”

By asking this question you get a very clear idea of where you stand. You get a feel for what they thought about you. Plus if it happens to be that they have any concerns, you can answer them straight away

Expressing Your Opinion

After doing your research about the organisation you should have a good idea about their history, products / services / projects, target market, competitors etc. The reality is that everyone else who you will be competing against would have done the same. Having an opinion is what is going to give you the edge.

Once again there is no right or wrong opinion but what matters is that you go into that interview room with an opinion and what matters even more is that you have sufficient facts to back your opinion.

Here are a Few Guidelines:

  • It could be on anything really.
  • The way they provide their services
  • Their methods of advertising
  • Should they be using social media as a potential platform to find new business.
  • Is there something that can be learnt from their competitors.
  • Other areas in the market to target, add on sales or merchandise
  • Any constructive feedback, room for development and growth etc.

Expressing an opinion can be very effective and powerful. What you have said may not be taken aboard but the fact that you made an opinion is very significant. It is also a simple way in which you can get them thinking. “Hmmmm this person has got a point….” This method will certainly make you a cut above the rest, brings in that ‘x’ factor and shows that you are not another crab in the bucket.

Bringing your A-Game

Before you leave home for the interview, it is vital that you are in the right emotional state – confident, calm and charismatic. That feel good state that we all like to be in. We will have our own unique ways of doing this

Here are a Few Guidelines:

This could be:

  • Your morning routine
  • Meditation
  • Listening to your favourite music
  • Listening to motivational speeches
  • Doing some push ups. Etc

Identify what yours is and carry out that activity to reach that peak performance state. Effectively, when you walk into that interview room they will just know. You will be radiating that energy, enthusiasm and confidence.

Apply these insights for your next job interview; they are certainly going to give you the edge to be more competitive.

Good luck!

Author Bio

Chirathu Liyanage – Public speaker and Blogger with a passion for self development, aspiring to help people in life.

Posted on

Create the Best Impression on Your First Interview with a PowerPoint Presentation

Not everyone, especially those appearing for their first interviews, realizes how competitive the job market is.

You need to make the best impact with your presentation of your credentials and how you can add value to the organization that is interviewing you.

Apart from being up to date with information about the business sector and the company itself, you need to come up with a really persuasive argument regarding reasons why you should be hired.

While you can expect all candidates to be smartly turned out with resumes elegantly word-processed, you can make a mark by making a concise PowerPoint presentation about your profile and skills.

Why Is Making A PowerPoint Presentation More Effective?

Interviewers are looking for a whole host of attributes when they are screening job applicants.

A PowerPoint presentation allows candidates demonstrate their domain knowledge, communication abilities, public speaking skills and above all their ability to convince the audience of their conviction in themselves.

In fact, many corporations are nowadays asking job candidates to make presentations rather than engaging in the conventional Q&A across the table.

The advantage for job applicants with making PowerPoint presentations is that they can structure the presentation in the manner that best suits them and also come prepared well-rehearsed and refined with all the glitches eliminated.

A Great Tool for Demonstration of Creative Abilities

A PowerPoint presentation is all the more great for those applying for jobs in the creative fields as they can then incorporate their portfolio in the slides along with music, video or special sound effects as may be relevant.

Testimonials regarding your capabilities can be more convincing and impactful if they have been captured in a video that has been embedded in to the presentation, either directly or through a YouTube link.

You can make use of the many professional PowerPoint templates that are available on the web so that your presentation has a slick and smart appearance.

Structuring the Presentation Right

The golden rule to remember is that you need to make your presentation crisp yet not leave anything vital undiscussed.

Presentations that are too long will invariably bore your audience and are most likely to be terminated before its logical conclusion. It is very unlikely that incomplete presentation will get you the necessary marks for the job.

Try and structure your presentation into distinct chapters that will force your audience to think the way you want them.

There should be a distinct introduction, followed by your vision of where your career should be headed.

Discuss your competencies and buttress your claim to the job with work samples and achievements that can be verified and supported with documentation.

Take time to explain how you can add value to your employer and finish it off with a few but powerful testimonials from people who have credibility with your interviewers.

Tips for Getting It Right

When making a PowerPoint presentation it is very important to ensure clarity of message as things can go awfully awry if you try to cram in all details that is likely to confuse the audience.

Treat the presentation only as a visual aid and resist the temptation to read out the contents of the slides.

It helps to know if there is a time limit but even if this cannot be ascertained allow yourself no more than five minutes.

It thus becomes vital for you to get your content under control and rehearse till such time you can make a lucid presentation without sounding like a TV newscaster.

Make sure that the presentation has been properly proofread and there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes.

Prepare yourself for equipment failure and ensure you can still make a good presentation without being able to show the PowerPoint slides. Carry a few copies on CDs or pen drives that you can distribute to your interviewers for easy reference.

Author bio:

Samantha Peters is the head of the HR department of a prominent multinational operating in the packaged food business sector. Her advice to aspiring job candidates is to make smart presentation using professional PowerPoint templates.

Posted on

3 Step Interview Success Process

Interview success is easy to achieve, all the interviewee has to so is follow these 3 steps for interview success.

Career professionals who can’t get over the interview hurdle do one of 3 things wrong;

1 they allow interview nerves to create procrastination – this leads to the applicant being lazy, they don’t prepare for the job interview, they rarely practice answering tricky questions and they focus on the negatives of previous interviews which creates a failure state

2 they don’t have a unique selling point – a lack of a unique selling point creates a boring interview. Interviewers are looking for an applicant to stand out, to make a differences, someone who is unique and interesting

3 they don’t structure their interview answers – a generic interview answer creates disinterest, an answer that goes on and on turns interviewers off and an interview answer with no structure creates confusion

This 3 step process that you are about to uncover, for interview success, will put the power back in your hands, you will win more interviews and gain more job offers

Create Interview Confidence Instantly

Your mind, to teach you how to react to a situation, searches for a “frame of reference.” – this is how I reacted last time, so I will react in the same way.

Successful interviewees have a positive frame of reference for the job interview, but most people don’t. The initial frame of reference for this public speaking event, is often, standing in front of your class at school, feeling embarrassed and getting shouted at by the teacher.

This state creates interview nerves and with each failed interview your confidence for job interviews dramatically drops, until the thought of a job interview sends shivers up your spine.

You need to create a new confident frame of reference. This technique uses your minds creativity and visual skills to change your emotional response to the job interview – increasing your confidence

  • Step 1 – think of an interview (this will be created as a negative visualisation in your minds eye. Often this will be a coloured movie, a movie of you failing and looking embarrassed)
  • Step 2 – pause this movie, move it away from your minds eye, so you can see the corner of the movie (
  • Step 3 – place the picture of the movie in an old frame and drain the colour from the movie
  • Step 4 – push the movie further and further away from your minds eye, so the image gets smaller and smaller, more out of focused until it is a dot on the horizon
  • Step 5– create an image that represents you being your best at a job interview; you looking confident, answering questions well and having great rapport
  • Step 6 – make this image big and bright, vivid and strong, add sound and move the movie so it is where the old image use to be
  • Step 7 – imagine the old movie and follow steps 1-5 but this time do it quicker and quicker so it moves to the horizon in an instant and in a quick of a flash move the positive image towards you replacing the old image
  • Step 8 – complete this process 10 time, until you only see the positive movie when you think of a job interview

Create an Interview Selling Point

Everyone who attends the interview for the position you are applying for meets the job criteria (or they wouldn’t be offered an interview).

In the job interview you have to be seen by the interviewer as a better applicant then the rest of the interviewees. To be offered the position you need to offer the interview more then what they want, additional extras, you need to sell yourself through a unique selling point.

If you were offered two cars for the same price, which car would you take? Car 1 – standard model or Car 2 standard model plus free insurance, free satnav and free petrol for 1 year?

Its a no brainer. the same process can be used in the job interview. Show the employer how you meet the job criteria and then offer additional benefits. What skill, quality or experience do you possess that others don’t? What can you bring to the team that will make a real impact? How will your experience and work ethic make an difference in terms of quality, productivity or profits?

Create a Structure to Sell Yourself with each Interview Answer

Don’t just answer questions willy-nilly – as this wont impress anyone.

To be offered more jobs in the job interview you need to structure each interview question. A structure helps you to sell yourself while answering the interviewers question, it also stops you waffling, reduces “erms” and “arghs” and it makes sound professional and confident

To structure your answer;

step 1 – answer the question in the first sentence; no matter what you are asked make it clear at the question start that you have that experience or skill. Take a simple question around team work experience, most people answer this by talking about how “a team is more productive” instead of this common start to the question, state your duration in high performing teams  “in all my previous roles over the past 10 years I have worked within high performing teams…”

By stating how you have said skill, creates intrigue, this intrigue ensures the interviewer listens to the body of your answer

Step 2 – give real examples. Many interviewees state facts when answering questions. For some questions, this is fine, but in the main you need to give real examples “…an example of this is A, B and C…” (unique selling points)

Examples are like stories. When you hear a story you visualise the plot and every visualisation has an emotional attachment. When you explain how you were able to achieve success the employer will feel this emotional and associate the positive feelings onto you.

Step 3 – Explain how you can use this same skill in their company. When possible “future pace” this means you can finish the interview answer by stating that this experience can be used in the position you are applying for “…if offered the position I could implement this process in to the business which will increase production and profits”

If its a question where you cant future pace, you can simply summarise your opening state and story “…so overall my 10 years experience working in high performing teams has allowed me to X..”

The summary tells the interview that your answer is over. In addition having 3 steps is really powerful for the interviewee, as the structure keeps you focused boosting your interview confidence.

Posted on

3 Interview Mistakes Every Candidate Makes

People really struggle with job interviews

Your perspective of the job interview really messes with your head, which increases your nervous. Once afraid you are already on a downward slope to the reject pile. But even confident interviewees make mistakes in the job interview that can cost them the job offer

This article wont cover preparing and practicing your interview answers, even though this is a must. Instead this article will discuss the 3 mistakes that every candidate makes when answering interview questions

Job Interview Mistake 1

Thinking you will get offered the job role

Rule 1 in job interviews is the best person for the job doesn’t get it, the best interviewee does

When coaching interviewees the biggest mistake they make is Not Using Examples. Some, don’t even use examples when asked “give me an example of when you did X?” instead they list skills or required qualities for the task

Examples are real and have a greater emotional impact on the interviewer. Think of an example as a story; you give the plot (in the job interview the plot is the situation – I worked on X project) then discuss the story (what you did to achieve your outcome) and final the conclusion (the outcome from your hard work)

People visualise stories and examples and these visualisations have an emotional effect on the interviewer increasing likeness and the likelihood that you, not others, will be offered the position

Job Interview Mistake 2

Giving credit to others doesn’t highlight your unique selling point

So many interviewees, in a  mock interviews with me, will discuss a key achievement from a previous employer without explaining how they were the instrumental influence in the outcome of the achievement

  • “We set a task, we all worked hard, the outcome was X”
  • “Dave did a great job on X which really helped with the outcome”
  • “The company had X goal, the company put X into place and the outcome was X”

In every job interview create a focus on YOU! Explain what you did, explain your unique selling points and explain how without you, the outcome would have been negative. This your KEY SELLING point, don’t fall into the trap of underselling yourself

Job Interview Mistake 3

If you don’t say it loud, don’t say it

A common mistake is the tone and volume of your voice during the job interview

Many interviewers are too polite, if your volume is quite they may ask you to repeat your answer once or twice but not more often then that. If they can’t hear your unique selling point, it was pointless saying it.

Many interviewees will use one tonality throughout the interview. From your own experiences you know how boring and sleep inducing this is.

To create excitement, interest and intrigue use your a varied tonality when answering each interview question

All great orators use this skill which is easily transferred to the job interview situation

Posted on

Finally an Explanation To Odd Ball Interview Questions

Job interviewers are asking more odd ball interview questions than ever before.

These odd ball questions on the face of it “why are manhole covers round and not square” sound ridiculous, and it is the uncertainty of the meaning of the odd ball interview question, that creates fear in the job interviewee.

The answer is in the job specification. All questions asked in the job interview are asked for a reason; there is a skill or quality the employer, through the odd ball interview question, is trying to dissect.

What An Odd ball Question!

To prepare for odd ball interview questions you first need to read the job specification for the position you are applying for. Breakdown the skills required for this role; creativity, logic, communication. Employers also know the importance of hiring someone with the right fit and it is these odd ball job interview questions that uncovers your personality type, your values and your skills and qualities

5 odd ball interview questions

“How many hamburgers were consumed in the UK in 2014?”

This isn’t a question for a McDonalds team member! The question is designed to uncover your thought process and how you can handle complex problems.

What you need to check via the job specification is: does the employer want to recruit a creative thinker or logical problem solver?

There is no right answer in terms of the number of hamburgers as only the directors of McDonalds know this, but the interviewer wants to understand how you approach complex problems.

“If you could be a character from a book or film who would you be and why?”

Questions asking you to pretend to be a famous film star, what animal would you be or which well know political figure best represents you, are designed to uncover your personality traits and values.

Before answering this question, profile the job role and list the skills and qualities required to fit in with this particular organization. Answer the question by saying “I would be X, as X is (add skill/quality relevant to the role….”

“If you won the lottery what would you spend it on?”

No-one cares how you spend your money, rather the employer wants to find out how reasonable you are and what you value.

You could answer that you would invest, that you would treat your friends, that you would spend it on silly things, give it to charity, split it between several options or hide it under your mattress.

The job sector you are applying for can give you an insight into the best suitable answer – I financial role would want to hear how you would invest, whereas a job in the caring sector are looking at your values.

“If you could take 5 things with you to a desert island that you were stranded on, what would you take?”

Your answer (water, food, knife, fire starting kit) doesn’t really matter compared to your thought process. This and similar worded interview questions, are designed to test your logic.

When answering logic based question give explanations behind your reason “a fire lighting kit because fire can be used for 3 things 1…..” To answer this question focus on your reason for picking an object.

If you were in the Army and you had recently returned from a failed mission how would you explain your failure to your senior officer?”

Situation questions can be hard as your brain searches for the meaning of the question but first needs more detail “what was the mission” “who was on the mission” “what went wrong” because the more of an understanding of the situation you have, the better placed you are to answer the interview question.

Stay away from this train of thought and instead think about the reason why you are being asked this question. This question is looking at how you reflect on your work, how you take feedback and what steps you take to learn from past failures.

When answering the question discuss the 3 steps.

Step 1  Discuss the build up to the mission as this give detail to the generic question

“Prior to the meeting with my senior officer, I would review the mission objective, the resources and equipment we had available, what went well and the overall reason for the failure.” In step one, you are showing how you reflect and learn from experiences, as well as how you prepare for situations

Step 2 In step 2 explain your approach would you take charge of the meeting? Would you let the officers opinions go over your head? Would you negotiate? The best approach is the approach that would need to be adopted in the company you are applying for

Step 3 Here show how you learn from mistakes, explain what steps you would take in a future mission.

With all interview questions, the employer has an agenda – they want to uncover a desired skill or quality or to check if you don’t possess these essential criteria. With all odd-ball interview questions, ask what skill or quality does the employer want to uncover?